One of the projects I’ve been working on over the last few months is the implementation and customization of a Content Management System (CMS). The CMS chosen by my client is Sitecore CMS, which is garnering some attention for its somewhat unique approach to the world of CMS and was recently named a “Cool Vendor” by Gartner.
Sitecore’s product is pretty interesting. It’s a .NET based product that gives you the ability to (er…forces you to) create everything from the ground up for your website. Everything is customizable…layouts, templates, everything. The product is delivered as a .NET ’solution’…in other words, you can open the ’site’ in Visual Studio and customize to your hearts content.
Personally, I like this approach because it provides a great deal of flexibility and provides developers with a way to easily ‘hook’ into a Sitecore website and customize it…..but it isn’t the right solution for every problem. If you are looking for a CMS, or just interested in CMS platforms, you should look into Sitecore. If you are looking to buy, expect to pay more than some CMS platforms and less than others 
Here’s a quick Hit List that you can use to determine if Sitecore is right for your organization:
Sitecore is a good option if:
- You have a good sized website and/or many websites to host.
- You are a Microsoft shop with SQL Server, Windows Servers, etc.
- You have a development staff who are fluent with .NET (C#, ASP.NET) or are OK with paying an outside firm for this work & expertise.
- You are willing to invest in a long-term approach to migrating all your websites and web apps into a .NET environment (this gives you your biggest ROI in my opinion).
- You are OK with looking at a payback period of over 1 year. My personal opinion is Sitecore is at about 18 to 24 months or longer depending on what you spend to implement and what customization you have done.
Sitecore is probably not the best option if:
- You can’t spend much money
- Your payback period is less than a year
- You have no development staff with .NET experience nor do you want to pay for outside development
- You aren’t a Microsoft shop
- You have a few sites and don’t need .NET integration
For the developers out there…if you’re interested in jumping on a bandwagon and learning a new product, there is a tremendous need for sitecore developers in the marketplace. I’m contacted ~3 to 4 times a week for resources. You can download an ‘express‘ version from Sitecore for free (not to be used as a commercial site) and join their Developer network to jump in and start learning.
Sitecore is a good product and provides a very good ’skeleton’ for a CMS but might not be the best selection for anyone looking for a quick turn CMS and/or quick payback.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Josh McKerney 04.17.08 at 5:17 am
Hi, great article. Thanks.
I think it would be grate to compare Sitecore with other .NET CMS systems like Kentico, Sitefinity or Ektron.
Eric Brown 04.17.08 at 6:12 am
Hi Josh - thanks for the comment.
I’ll look into the other products you’ve mentioned…I have some experience with Ektron and Sitefinity but not recent experience but I know quite a few people who work with both on a regular basis.
Perhaps I’ll get together with them to put together a quick review and comparison.
Josh McKerney 04.17.08 at 6:59 am
I have a web development agency with my friend and we are considering these CMS as our main platform: Ektron, Kentico, Sitecore and Sitefinity.
I think Ektron and Kentico are more flexible, robust and have more useful features than Sitecore and Sitefinity.
Ektron is too much expensive (in comparsion with Kentico, Sitecoer and Sitefinity) for us so I think we will choose Kentico but I think it would be useful if we get another opinion
Eric Brown 04.17.08 at 7:26 am
Josh - Have you looked at Umbraco (http://www.umbraco.org/)? It is purportedly a very close cousin of Sitecore but is Open Source. Might be worth checking into.
I’ll ask around if anyone has any experience with Kentico or Sitefinity and let you know.
Josh McKerney 04.17.08 at 8:29 am
Not deeply. I think Umbraco has very poor funtionality…
Chris McNamarra 07.30.08 at 9:16 pm
I personally haven’t used Kentico, but I have used Sitecore and Ektron. Thus I am wondering how you can state that Ektron is more flexible? There is not a single thing you can’t do in Sitecore, as its API is completely open and everything is build around extensibility. Ektron limits you in scalability, security, workflows and more, apart from being more expensive.
For me Sitecore is the product of choice, probably 2-3 years ahead of its competition. But as Eric said, go and download the Express version to see for yourself.
Mikael O 09.22.08 at 6:54 am
Sure, Umbraco can’t match platforms like Sitecore and Ektron in functionality. However, compared to for instance EPiServer, Umbraco is competitive in functionality. If you’re about to build a website with moderate requirements, Umbraco is not only sufficient in features for this type of task, but also has no licence fees. But for intranets, which usually come with budgets attached, Umbraco is seldom a suitable choice.